Catfish and miso sour soup

This recipe would have been posted a lot sooner had I been able to find more information about kanduli. I never really thought it was just another variety of catfish. In fact, I didn’t realize there was more than one catfish. The only catfish I know is called hito and it’s dark gray to black in color, not silver to light gray.

But after several days of on-and-off searching for the English name of kanduli — I got the same thing. Catfish. So, I’m done with the searching. The recipe is more important than the name of the fish anyway. Just remember, this dish does not use the black catfish Filipinos call hito. Kanduli is silver to light gray and, like the hito, it has cat-like whiskers too.

You can have the catfish cleaned and gutted by the fish monger and do the cutting at home or you can ask the fish monger to save you all the trouble by doing a complete job on the fish. I had mine cut in the market. If you’re lucky like me and your catfish has fish roe, the soup will be even more wonderful. Just wash the catfish and drain.

If the mustard leaves are rather large you can cut them into halves after trimming the root ends. Otherwise, just cut off the root ends and use the leaves whole.

That’s what yellow miso looks like. You may want to read about different kinds of miso before deciding whether yellow miso is absolutely essential for cooking this soup or whether you can substitute another variety.

For the tamarind juice, rinse and boil 250 grams of tamarind in about four cups of water and extract the juice (see related entry on how to extract tamarind juice).

I’m not really a fish person due to the fact that i majorly suck at picking the bones. It’s more of fear, i guess. I just stick to fillets. :)

That’s just me. But for my audience, my customers here at home, I’d gladly do this for them and I’m sure they would love this! You’re lucky to get find fish with roe, i haven’t seen any for a long time. I really like the aroma of sinigang sa miso. Great for cold weather and perfect for my cold. Love the photos!

here in Rizal, there is an abundance of Kanduli in our wet market. We call their kinds as “isdang tabang” unlike the lapulapu and mayamaya kinds. It”?s more affordable than bangus and tilapia but when cooked, almost always, may malansang after taste. Kaya my mom used to remove the head kasi sabi nang matatanda sa barrio, yun ang nagpapalansa sa lasa nia. And my mom adds ginger to minimize/ or completely remove the lansa. My parents love sinigang sa miso na kanduli! Thank you, ms connie for making this simple dish looks so sumptuous and tempting. By the way, i love the way kanduli is cooked the “daing”-style.=)

hi miss connie,
this is also our fave dish! we cook it the same way you too! we always use misong dilaw. in sta rosa laguna, my aunts also cook adobong kanduli sa gata (the sauce is yellow though, and i have yet to find out how to cook that). yeah, nakaka-miss ang kanduli, sa laguna lang ako nakakain ng ganun pag nauwi kami dun! nakakagutom! :)

I love this dish, but where I come from in Navotas, we have renamed it ginisang sinigang na kanduli sa miso, the only differences i remember was the the tomato, onion and garlic are sauteed first then the miso sauteed also when the onion is translucent and my Nanay uses the pickled mustasa instead of the fresh one, so the tart taste comes from the sampaloc and the mustasa preserve. also we added, labanos and small egg plants. wow ang sarap talaga! I live in boston now, and never recognized kanduli until my brother visited me from Florida and we were a at chinatown grocery and he spotted some live kanduli in the aquatium, they were being sold live, it looks like most american catfish are the kanduli type, there was also the ocean catfish,(Huge sea or ocean catfish) which they call alimusang in the southern Negros regions. They cook a mean sinigang na alimusang over there too, i used to live there too.

Is it okay if I share a recipe and maybe (only if you want to) you can try doing it at home and giving me a comment (good or bad)? i was told numerous times that it tasted really good 9I made up ther ecipe after an uninspiring New Year’s celebration)…
If yes…tell me so, thank you.

it’s easy to get the catfish…i have a thai friend who will give me tamarind…there’s a japanese market where i can buy miso…the other ingredients
are in my fridge…one more thing..my camera!!!
excellent detailed instructions with photos…i’ve
never seen catfish roe…cool…how does it taste?
thanks again

Ms Connie, this site is making my mouth watery (as in literally) and i just ate my dinner!

Anyways, just want to say, thanks much for sharing your recipes through net! i have known people who also use your site as their source of recipe for a new dish they want to cook..

and may i add, that i have been wanting to try and cook this miso soup for God knows how long. May I ask if there is no alternative for the tamarind extract? my mama used calamansi extract as well.. will that do? or will it have a different taste?

thank you for replying :)

and Ms Melacane, i am so gonna try ur recipe. I hope i could get my hubby taste that pasta dish (he is not a very good fan of pasta dishes)